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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371607">Another Chance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilkTeaMagic/pseuds/MilkTeaMagic'>MilkTeaMagic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ghost Hunt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:08:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,022</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371607</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilkTeaMagic/pseuds/MilkTeaMagic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a full year of living as a shut in due to an incident that resulted in her leaving her hometown, Nori didn't think that she'd suddenly be pushed out the door to a fate she couldn't have predicted. Now she's going to have to stick around to prevent the tragedies to come.<br/>But hey, maybe she'll make some friends along the way.<br/>That would almost make up for the terrifying ghosts and cases they'll be taking up... almost...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Another Chance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As much as I love Ghost Hunt, to be honest this story probably won't have consistent updates since I'm a full time student who works. Although, I'm going to have fun with it, so hopefully you guys do too!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a while since I was out. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Mamoru dragging me out of my apartment then I probably wouldn’t have even seen the sun for another three days. It hadn’t taken him long to catch onto the fact that I was playing recluse and tugged me up by my shoulder to throw me into the car.<br/>At this point, I was feeling self-conscious and tried to make myself as presentable as I could. He hadn’t given me much time to get ready and now that I knew that I’d be meeting people, I couldn’t help but feel like I look like a mess.</p>
<p>“Relax, you look fine.”</p>
<p>I sent him an unbelieving look as I pulled the visor down and flipped open the mirror. The dark circles under my eyes weren’t a pretty sight and my pale pallor only made it stand out even more.</p>
<p>“Right…” I murmured grudgingly. Couldn’t he at least let me put some makeup one? Sighing, I pulled my dark hair into a ponytail to keep the mess out of my face as I turned to him.</p>
<p>“Can’t you at least tell me where we’re going? I’d like to know given that you dragged me out of my house so suddenly.”</p>
<p>When he didn’t answer immediately, I couldn’t help but pull my hands in distress across my face. Mamoru seemed to have caught it and grimaced apologetically.</p>
<p>“Listen, I don’t even know if the place even is haunted. I’m just being asked to come take a look in case it is so that it can be torn down without any incidence. Believe me, if I thought it to be too dangerous for you, then I wouldn’t keep you around for that.”</p>
<p>His hand gently pulled at my wrist, making my hand come away and allowing me to see his earnest expression. Well… if anything, Mamoru is truthful, and I do believe he wouldn’t put me in harm’s way on purpose.</p>
<p>“Okay. Just… just don’t make me do anything that I don’t have to…”</p>
<p>His face fell at that, sighing softly as he averted his eyes to the traffic ahead.</p>
<p>“Of course.”</p>
<p>I couldn’t help but trail behind the school’s principal and Mamoru, trying my best to be unnoticed. The decrepit school building soon came into view and my hand slowly raised to grasp at my forearm, feeling the familiar bumps the strung around my appendage as I sought comfort from it. It was usually covered by the jacket I hung around my shoulders, but I couldn’t help but feel nervous as I rolled my fingers over them.</p>
<p>In my anxiety, I missed how we were suddenly upon a group of people that looked at as rather strangely, some of them more irritated than others.</p>
<p>“Apologies for interrupting, but I’d like to introduce Higurashi-san. He’s one of the two left to arrive that will be helping with the case.”</p>
<p>“Higurashi Mamoru. Pleased to meet you.” He gave a formal bow. I stiffened when he suddenly turned to me and against my wishes, pushed me forward with a hand to my shoulder. I almost stumbled forward, but his grasp kept from eating dirt as I quickly lowered my eyes.</p>
<p>“And this is Hanyu Noriko. Apologies for her silence, she hasn’t gotten much rest as of late.”</p>
<p>I bowed politely, clutching the shoulder of my jacket as I did so that it wouldn’t fall off me. I felt uncomfortable with the staring and was relieved when Mamoru didn’t stop me from stepping behind him once more. Soon the principal made his leave and we were left with the group, debating one whether the school was haunted or not. Things got a bit heated, but honestly, I didn’t pay much attention and instead kept my eyes down, not wanting to get pulled into the argument; Mamoru’s familiar presence soon had me relaxing ever so slightly as he leaned over discreetly.</p>
<p>“What do you think?”</p>
<p>“I…” I took a deep breath. “I don’t think so?”</p>
<p>My eyes flickered to the old building before looking up at him for confirmation. He smiled gently and laid a hand on my head.</p>
<p>“That’s what it seems to be.” Mamoru’s hand soon left me and I was left feeling the chill of early spring where his warmth was. I shivered as he stepped forward with a friendly cheer. “Now, now, let’s not fight! I’d rather we get along to solve this than make it difficult on ourselves.”</p>
<p>Without even listening, I could tell the miko and monk weren’t so keen on that idea and soon left to do whatever they needed to for their rituals. I frowned at their attitudes before I finally took account of the others there. The foreign priest seemed open to the suggestion as well as the teen girl that held some equipment.</p>
<p>‘Good…’ I felt relief. At least they’ll help and then maybe we can get out of here faster. My thoughts came to an abrupt halt when my eyes stopped on the last remaining member. The teen was rather beautiful even with the cold front he seemed to carry with him, but that had no bearing on my mind as I curled into myself.</p>
<p>‘Who-…’ My breath shuddered. ‘He’s here? No… not here? Mamoru didn’t seem to recognize him… so not him? But he looks the same...’</p>
<p>Shakily, I pressed a hand against my eyes. Yes, the images of a future past flashed behind them and I knew for a moment that it was all connected. How so? I wasn’t quite sure, but it wasn’t until I felt a warmth fill me that I raised my head and regarded Mamoru with an exhausted look.</p>
<p>“You okay?” His face creased with worry.</p>
<p>“Yeah.” I forced myself to whisper before straightening myself out the best I could and following the group into the building. It really seemed like he didn’t recognize the teen, so he must not be who I thought he was. But still, that didn’t comfort me. Visions were always best kept to the script and perhaps I had rewritten it too much.</p>
<p>Whatever worry I had, I put it on the back burner until more could be revealed later. Once we were shuffled into the room, it was the priest who chose to speak up now that the monk and miko had decided to do their own thing.</p>
<p>“I’d like to work together if you don’t mind.” He smiled tentatively as the teen sighed.</p>
<p>“And you?”</p>
<p>“The same if you don’t mind.” Mamoru said cheerfully. It was when his eyes slid to mine that I shifted uncomfortably.</p>
<p>“I’m just tagging along. I’ll help if you need me, though.”</p>
<p>“Whelp, you heard it here first! You’re the one who started this whole operation first, so point us in the right direction!”</p>
<p>I could hear the slightest hint of exasperation coming from the stoic teen as he quickly delved into giving duties to those present. I was given the assignment of setting up some equipment in the second floor room, but I lingered behind as the others went ahead. Mamoru gave me a quick glance, but he quickly went back to his conversation with John when he saw me wave him away. Gathering up courage, I took a deep breath before coming to a stop in front of the other teen.</p>
<p>“Excuse me.” I said softly. Wordlessly, he looked up and his face instantly read to me as ‘what do you want?’ My eyes seemed to want to automatically look away, but I kept them steady even if my shoulders were a bit too tense.</p>
<p>“I just wanted to ask… should I call you Kazuya or Shibuya-san?” There seemed to be a brief moment of confusion that kickstarted the unease in me for whatever reason. My hand came up to rub at my forearm once more.</p>
<p>“Ya know… It’s just how you introduced yourself. You said ‘Kazuya Shibuya’, but I thought Kazuya would be your first name and usually you don’t introduce yourself in such a way…” I trailed off, unsure of how to proceed as he stared at me. Maybe it was something I shouldn’t have brought up? It almost seemed like a century had passed before he looked away dismissively and held up a chart. Instinctively I took it, a bit confused when he looked back at the monitors slowly coming online.</p>
<p>“I don’t have a preference.”</p>
<p>“Okay.” I said softly. “Then please call me Nori, Kazuya-san.” I bowed even if he wasn’t looking at me, feeling rather nervous in his presence. I muttered a quick goodbye before hurriedly escaping out the front and grabbing what I needed from the van. Something told me that this case would be difficult, but not in the sense that most would think of.<br/>The next day, I was standing out near the van and trying to catch a breath from all the colorful characters that the principal had gathered here. To be honest, I wasn’t terribly comfortable with situation, so the minute Kazuya mentioned needing something out of the van, I jumped onto the opportunity.</p>
<p>Clearing my mind with a deep breath, I tried to steel myself for the impending social interactions to come.</p>
<p>“Come on, Nori. You can do it!” I whispered to myself even as my arms strained under the weight of Kazuya’s equipment. “Don’t chicken out just because it’s uncomfortable!”<br/>Even as I said it, I couldn’t help my thoughts drifting back to Mamoru. No doubt I would cling to him and let him handle any social interactions that I can get away with. Feeling my mood dip, I quietly walked back to the base.</p>
<p>‘Well, it’s not like I’ll be seeing them again after this…’</p>
<p>By the time I had arrived back in the room, there was a girl in there that I couldn’t recognize. It didn’t take me long to realize she was desperate to be believed, that she wanted the others to acknowledge what she had to say. I almost felt bad for her when Ayako set about attacking her and calling her a liar.</p>
<p>‘Not that I can completely disagree.’ The girl gives me off vibes and she seemed a bit too eager about something dangerous being here. I ran a tongue over my teeth in thought as I stared at the girl.</p>
<p>‘If only she realized how dangerous it was to be playing around like this.’</p>
<p>I felt a bump against my shoulder and I looked to see that it was Mamoru. A half smile lifted the corner of my lip as I tried to appease him. I would be more convenient for me if he wasn’t so attuned to how I felt…</p>
<p>It wasn’t until I saw Mai approaching me out of the corner of my eyes that I turned away from my chaperone.</p>
<p>“Hi, we didn’t really get to talk much yesterday, but seeing as we’re both high schoolers I thought we could help each other out here!”</p>
<p>I could vaguely sense Mamoru staring at me from behind. Of course, he would encourage being friends with the girl, probably hoping for it. Well, I wasn’t exactly against it either, so I smiled tentatively at her.</p>
<p>“If you don’t mind. I’m a bit useless here, so you’ll have to show me the way, Taniyama-san.”</p>
<p>“I’m a total newbie actually.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I guess we’ll have to just learn on the job. And none of this ‘Taniyama-san’ business! Just call me Mai.”<br/>“Then Nori for me.” I smiled. At least she wasn’t against informality. I wasn’t quite used to referring to everyone by their last name. Sensing Mai’s exuberance, I graciously took the clipboard from her as she explained that we needed to go check the temperatures. In no time at all, they were done but we were in no rush to get back to the base.</p>
<p>“So…” I glanced at her. What did she want to ask? I tilted my head as a way to silently urge her on.</p>
<p>“You’re with Mamoru, right?” At my nod, Mai continued. “He must be pretty special if he was called in, too. Can you see spirits or something since you came here?”</p>
<p>“Ah, I’m nothing special.” I averted my gaze. “Mamoru is the real professional. He’s just babysitting me and I help out where I can. He kinda forced me along to begin with.”</p>
<p>“Geez, to think we had two slave drivers on our hands.” The schoolgirl blew a stray bang out of her face as she turned to me with a pout. “At least Mamoru is nice. Naru just criticizes me.”</p>
<p>“Naru?”</p>
<p>I blinked in surprise as she suddenly burst out laughing. It… wasn’t really a reaction I would have predicted, honestly.</p>
<p>“Yeah! As in ‘Naru the narcissist’! Pretty clever, huh? I thought it fit.”</p>
<p>I smiled hesitantly. She really did seem proud of the nickname, but I don’t know if I could totally bring myself to call him that to his face. Imagining the glare that would ensue, I scrapped the idea of calling him anything remotely insulting.</p>
<p>‘I don’t need to give him any reasons to hate me.’ I wrung my hand nervously, not that the chattering teen next to me noticed. By the time we arrived back at base, I could feel the fatigue from having to keep up with Mai’s friendly gabbing. When she went to go inform Kazuya of her findings, I gladly accepted the opening for some respite and separated from the girl.</p>
<p>“So?” Mamoru raised his eyebrow as I settled up next him.</p>
<p>“She’s… nice. Just exhausting to keep up with.”</p>
<p>“You’ll get used to it!” He smiled cheerfully, roughly patting my shoulder as he did so. “Just hang in there. It’ll be good for you to interact with others every so often.”</p>
<p>“Maybe.” My lukewarm smile must have been enough for him since he dropped the subject. It was Mai gasping and calling for Kazuya that caught our attention. We scooted closer to the monitors to see what she was pointing at and in the entryway of the building stood a beautiful girl clad in a kimono. It wasn’t long until she appeared at our base’s door.<br/>“Mai—san, it’s okay. She’s not a ghost.” John said soothingly at the girl clutching his sweater.</p>
<p>“The principal must really want to demolish this building pretty badly if he invited you.”</p>
<p>“You know her?!” Mai shouted in shock. The curiosity was pulling at me too and in reflex, I glanced up to Mamoru and blinked in surprise.</p>
<p>“You too?”</p>
<p>His eyes flickered to me in acknowledgement and the serious look melted away to comfortable ease.</p>
<p>“It’s good to see you again, Hara-san.”</p>
<p>The spirit medium had just enough time to smile in greeting before a terrified scream had us jumping in our skins. Freezing in my spot, I could vaguely hear the monk running to see what was going on and soon others were filtering out of the room to find the miko.</p>
<p>Clutching at my arm, my heart thudded in my chest in a frantic way and I could almost feel myself grow cold. The shiver that ran down my spine had me hugging myself a bit tighter until a hand on my shoulder had me pausing, my eyes still trained on the floor.</p>
<p>“Nori…”</p>
<p>“I’m fine.” I said after a pause. “Just go help them.”</p>
<p>“Are you-“</p>
<p>“Just go!” I snapped. I could hear Mamoru hesitate before he softly sighed and followed after the group. Once I was alone, that was when I swallowed and let myself collapse against the wall. My head fell into my hands as I felt the guilt gnawing at my heart.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean to yell at him.” I sighed miserably and continued to hug my knees, letting the silence comfort me. Unfortunately, the group didn’t take too long to come back and with them was all their noise.</p>
<p>To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to their debate on whether there was a spirit or not. I was much too tired and downtrodden to really care about who was right or wrong.<br/>It wasn’t until the sun was setting that everyone decided to pack up. With Mamoru speaking for us and bidding everyone a farewell, I trailed after him in silence until we were both situated in his car.</p>
<p>“… I’m sorry.” Sullenly, I broke the silence. I couldn’t bear to meet his eyes, so I stared at him in the reflection of my window.</p>
<p>“It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean it.” He said softly.</p>
<p>All I could do was hum softly at his words. I didn’t mean to, but that didn’t make it okay. Knowing that I’ve just been running away from my issues didn’t help much either and pushing away Mamoru isn’t going to help either. So, after some thought, I forced myself to speak up.</p>
<p>“I’ve just been thinking of them…”</p>
<p>I could see him regard me in the corner of my eye as we pulled into the apartment’s lot. We sat there in silence for a split second as he cut the engine, the loss of sound making me feel a bit more lonelier than normal.</p>
<p>“It’s not bad to think of them every once in a while.”</p>
<p>“Sometimes I think of the future they could have had. It’s to the point where I can’t tell if it really was going to happen or if I’m just making things up after the fact.” I lifted my eyes to regard the starless night.</p>
<p>How long has it been since I’ve seen stars? All this light pollution makes it impossible to see those twinkling lights.</p>
<p>“It’s okay to think of them, but don’t let that control your life.”</p>
<p>“What life?” I couldn’t help but mutter in exhaustion before I opened the car door. I was the one who broached the subject, but now I was regretting it already and I just wanted to leave it alone.<br/>Thankfully, Mamoru left it at that and together we entered our home, leaving our discussion at the door for another day.</p>
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